DURHAM – A man Massachusetts described as “a sexually dangerous person” was back in police custody Saturday night on an aggravated assault charge.

Androscoggin County jail officials confirmed Ronald J. Leno, 56, was being held on $2,500 cash bail.

Detective William Gagne with the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office said the incident occurred Saturday night. He referred questions to the state police, who could not be reached for comment.

Rep. Mike Vaughan, R-Durham, said Leno saw a Texas flag flying in the yard of a Durham family and stopped to talk to the woman there. He said her husband approached Leno, telling him to go away, after which, Leno beat the man with a steel rod.

Vaughan said the husband suffered head injuries. “I did speak to him, his voice was quite quivery,” he added.

This week police announced Leno’s long record of rapes stemming back to 1978. He’s lived in Durham for a year, but his presence went unnoticed until a recent run-in with the Brunswick police.

If re-elected this fall, Vaughan has said he would propose two laws pertaining to sex offenders.

One would give towns without police departments the power to keep an offender from moving in.

The other would allow the state to involuntarily commit someone to a mental hospital if deemed incurable and a threat to society.

The public will have a chance to ask questions of the police about Leno at a community meeting Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Durham Elementary School.

“This community’s feeling kind of betrayed by the fact this guy’s here in the first place,” Vaughan said. People wonder how Leno got a Maine license, or why he picked Durham, he said.